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Yurts are semi-permanent Mongolian tents constructed of animal felts and furs in a circular shape.  Despite how small they look from the outside, I was always surprised by how big the inside of each yurt was.  One of my first nights in Inner Mongolia, we went out to the grasslands to several yurts.  We were greeted by politicians of the region, shortly before I entered my first yurt.

That night was one of the best nights of my life. 

We had the most delicious food.  Though I normally hate the taste of lamb, I ate several plates of their freshly roasted lamb.  The Mongolians, like the Chinese, greatly value fresh food.  They value fresh food so much, in fact, that they often will show you the live animal that will soon be your dinner.  Yes.  I saw my dinner walking around before I ate it.... and it was delicious.  The Mongolian tea was much different than Chinese tea, mostly because it contained milk.  The milk used in the tea came from horse, not cow.  When I asked why the people drink so much of this tea, someone told me that there is so few vegetables in the region that the people greatly rely on the milk tea to gain most of their daily nutrition.

The dinner was so lively!  People would walk around, talk, toast each other, eat a little something, and start moving around again.  There was so much excitement in the air.  After a while, musicians and dancers joined us in the yurt and entertained us.  I absolutely love Mongolian music.  One of the tradition instruments that they use is the horse-head fiddle, which they play like a cello.  My Chinese isn't excellent, so hopefully I don't recount this story wrong, but the horse-head fiddle was first made by a man who had lost his horse.  This man, like most all Mongolians, had a great love for his horse.  When the horse died, he was inconsolable.  He then had the idea to make his horse and its spirit live on by immortilizing it through music.  He took the the hair of the horse to make the strings.  Real horse hair is still used to make the instruments today.  Today, the rest of the instrument looks wooden, and the top is carved to resemble the shape of a horse's head.  It made a beautiful sound.  They also had a man perform tradition Mongolian throat singing.  It was so wild.  I had seen this type of singing the last time I had been in Inner Mongolia, and I was even more impressed the second time I saw it.  After the singing, we then saw incredible dancing.   It was so full of life!  I am so enamored by Mongolian culture.

Next, some of the local politicians offered gifts to everyone in yurt.  Everyone received a 2010 calendar of Inner Mongolia (so that we would remember them in the New Year), and scarfs.  In addition to those gifts, they also gave Gaytha, Hong, Xia, and me these beautiful hand-crafted, Han-made dolls in traditional Mongolian dress.  I also received a solid silver bowl, made from the nearby silver mines, in a small red, 100% silk box.  Everything was absolutely beautiful.

(From lef to right: Dr. Hong Yang, Me, Official, Dr. Gaytha Langlois, Ta La laoshi, Xia laoshi)

After the gift-giving, we went outside by an enormous circle patio in which a huge, unlit bonfire awaited us.  At one end of the patio, there was a table for the guests of honor.  The politician took me by the hand and led me to the table, where she tried to make me sit in the center.  I really don't like being the center of attention, so for me, being at the table at all was enough of an honor.  I politely refused and then sat near the end.  They offered us fresh fruit, a rarity in the region, which I graciously accepted.

Once everyone had gathered outside, Ta La laoshi and I were asked to do the honors of lighting the fire.  Each with a hand on the three foot torch, Ta La and I ignited the large pile of wood.  Within minutes, the fire gave off a great glow and warmth.  Soon music started, and people began to dance.  I stood back for a minute to observe.  Some of the local women were doing some kind of line-dance; I got behind them and tried to immitate.  Other people from my company joined me, laughing as we tripped over our feet trying to immitate the graceful Mongolian women.  Of course the music stopped as soon as I started to get the hang of it!  Oh well!  As the next songs played, we all eventually started dancing around the fire.  We joined hands and spun endlessly around the fire, laughing, singing, and enjoying life.  Despite how long it felt like we danced, I was disappointed when we broke apart and had to end the night.  

Needless to say, I slept well that night.

I'm back in the United States, so I'm really far behind on this blog.  I apologize.  Right now I'm watching CNN, and coincidentally, they're doing a special on the importance of learning Mandarin. It's encouraging to hear I'm on the right track.

Anyway, on the second day of the excursion, we visited five sites and a museum.  We stopped at Site 4 (I continuously numbered my sites, opposed to restarting my count for each day) which dates 3500BP.  However, the site was covered back up, so we didn't really see anything.  We took several samples of soil, twig, and leaf.

Site 5 was ready undug, researched, and covered back up.  This is the site we saw at the museum (about 8000BP) later that day.  We were able to find stone tools that were left on the site, which was incredibly exciting for me.  Gaytha found some kind of arrow or spear tip, and Wang laoshi found a millet grinding stone and platform.  We collected samples.

Site 6 was also a site that was covered back up.  It's contemporary of Site 5, dating about 8000BP, though Site 5 is slightly older.  We collected samples.

The museum displayed the artifacts and research done on a particular site. The primary civilzation at the site, the Aohan civilization, dates approximately 8000-1000BP. In addition to the Aohan civilization, there were also cultures from the Qi, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties.

We collected samples on the side of the road at two different stops -- one before the museum, and one after the museum on the way to the hotel. 

The day was incredibly busy, as I would find everyday to be, but full of excitement.  I felt like I was in a relay race, and there's nothing I loved more than sprinting from our little red Ford to hand tree clippers and a test tube off to Yang laoshi and hand scissors and envelops off to Leng laoshi.  I would take a picture of the site and its soil, and then quickly take two soil samples.  I would then rush to assist my two professors, and then jump back in the car.  We would do all of this within a matter of a minute.  I was at the edge of my seat, prepared to jump out of the car, every time the driver so much as tapped his brakes.  I want to do field work for the rest of my life.

After breakfast, we met with some of the scientists accompanying us on the trip in Beijing.  Introductions were brief, and we were soon on the road towards Chifeng.  The landscapes were absolutely breathtaking.  You'll soon be sick of me saying that, because literally everywhere we went was breathtakingly beautiful.  Dramatically going from hazy gray skies in Beijing to the bluest skies I've ever seen made the experience even more incredible.

We stopped in Chengde for lunch.  I had traveled to Chengde with the StarTalk group, so I was somewhat familar with the city.  I more formally met the other scientists after eating my first meal with them.   Dr. Yang's cousin, Dr. Lin Yang, is an archeologist who works primarily with satellite technology to capture the images of the sites he works on.  Dr. Wang is a Director of Archeology in Lanzhou.  Dr. Jou actually visited Bryant last fall semester, though I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember meeting me at his lecture.  He works on archeological agriculture.  Dr. Mei is a specialist in metals in ancient civilizations.  Dr. Ta La is the Director of the the Archeological Society in Inner Mongolia. 

Each of the men were some of the most distinguished and intelligent men I've ever met.  Later, I would find out that they are also some of the most kind, funny, and interesting people, too.

We traveled to the Du Jiang Yan Irrigation system today.  It was quite spectacular to see an irrigation system so well engineered that it's still used 2000 years after it was built.  It has been virtually unchanged from when it was first built, and is incredibly effect.  In fact, Dr. Yang said that this irrigation system is more effective than even the Three Gorges Dam will be.  Most of the site visit was simply admiring its engineering.   I'm not going to waste your time by explaining something you really just had to be there to understand.  I've included a picture and a brief explanation of it.

In the late afternoon, Hong, Crystal, Gaytha, and I traveled back to Beijing.  We stayed in the same hotel I stayed in with StarTalk on two occassions (coming and going).  It was nice to come back to a familar place for once.  I certainly enjoy going new places and seeing new things much more than sitting at home, but it was.... refreshing?... to sleep in a bed I knew.

I essentially said my goodbyes to Crystal that night because I knew I would only have a minimal amount of time to pack, eat, shower, AND say a proper goodbye to her in the morning.

On the eleventh day of my month long journey, we visited the Jianchuan Museum Cluster founded by Jianchuan Fan (or Fan Jianchuan in English). Mr. Jianchuan made an absorbent amount of money in his IT business, so with that money he decided to collect art. On the contrary to most art collections, Jianchuan collected relics from more modern historic (and often taboo) events. For example, there are several exhibits involving the Red Age, a time that many Chinese simply don’t discuss. Another example is the hall commemorating the POWs of WWII; POWs are often considered an embarrassment for being captured instead of dying in battle. Likewise, each of the cluster’s 13 museums themes is unique to China. Needless to say, it was spectacular.

As we walked into one museum, I saw a familiar symbol on the wall. Approaching it, I realized it was my school symbol. Suddenly I remembered that we had given two honorary degrees to distinguished men last spring; the first degree was awarded to President George Bush, Sr. and the second degree was awarded to Fan Jianchuan. Along with the degree were three photographs of Mr. Jianchuan shaking hands: the first was with President George Bush, Sr; the second was with Bryant University President Ron Machtley ; and the third was with my mentor, Dr. Hong Yang.

There was so much to see at each museum that I could type pages of notes on each. It was definitely one of the more interesting museums I’ve ever been to. These are some of the sites at the cluster:

Exhibition of weapons for homeland security
Chinese Heroes Statues Plaza (See my photos)
China Anti-Japanese Veteran Handprints Plaza
Red Plaza (a square with a red Great Wall and Mao Zedong)
The Hall of the Core of the Resistance
The Hall of Conventional Battlefront
The Hall of the Sichuan Army in the War of Resistance
The Hall of the Heroes of the “Flying Tigers” (US troops that aided China in WWII)
The Hall of the Unyielding Chinese Prisoners of War
Red Age (there were 3 halls: Living Necessities; Badges, Clocks, and Seals; Porcelain Wares)
The Gallery of Women’s Tiny Shoes
The Furniture Gallery of Old Residence
“All People of One Mind” Museum for the Wenchuan Earthquake

As you can see, there are many things to see. If you ask me to tell you about a specific site, I’ll gladly tell you, but I honestly don’t have the time or patience to type out everything I saw (because there were actually more than what I typed). I will, however, share my opinion on one particular museum I walked through.

The Earthquake Museum was incredible… disturbing… but incredible. They took actual pieces from the earthquake disaster sites and moved them into this museum. The effect of the museum made one feel as though they were walking through the rumble. One piece that both fascinated and upset me was dozens of children’s backpacks hanging for display. After feeling absolutely, almost empathetically, desolate walking through the museum, we reached a portion of museum focused on aid. The aid to the earthquake victims was inconceivable, so much so that it made our efforts to Katrina victims utterly despicable. It was truly moving.

After we walked around the different museums, we took a short car ride to a village-turned-museum. According to art (particularly these statues of suffering farmers that one artist sculpted) the landowner was a cruel tyrant, imposing absurd taxes on his subjects and killing them if they didn’t abide by his rule. Apparently, this wasn’t completely true. The landlord just kind of sat back and enjoyed a relaxing life. He wasn’t so much cruel, as he was apathetic to how his tax collectors proceeded. Yang Yin told me virtually everything I learned during the tour. I adore him.

Speaking of which, I gave Yin my contact info. He’s trying to send me his software for creating climate maps. I said ‘trying’ because the file is too big for the Bryant email address to handle. I gave him my other address, so hopefully it’ll go through.

I’ve just met the nicest people while in China.